Relax! These are good news - the first good news about internet regulation we have heard for a LONG time.

In a move that will stoke a battle over the future of the Internet, the federal government plans to propose regulating broadband lines under decades-old rules designed for traditional phone networks.

The decision, by Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski, is likely to trigger a vigorous lobbying battle, arraying big phone and cable companies and their allies on Capitol Hill against Silicon Valley giants and consumer advocates.

Breaking a deadlock within his agency, Mr. Genachowski is expected Thursday to outline his plan for regulating broadband lines. He wants to adopt "net neutrality" rules that require Internet providers like Comcast Corp. and AT&T Inc. to treat all traffic equally, and not to slow or block access to websites.

In other words, that law which they want to bring in where they can spy on you and cut your connection if they find you doing illicit things will not be enforecable. Am I correct?

Either that or companies and schools will no longer be allowed to block websites.

Mikky

06-05-10, 12:59

EDIT - ^^Thanx! :tmb:

Read the bolded line and you've got the gist of it.

Nope, still don't get it. :o Wouldn't it just be easier if you explained to me in simple terms? :)

Weemanply109

06-05-10, 14:01

Nope, still don't get it. :o Wouldn't it just be easier if you explained to me in simple terms? :)

^^

Draco

06-05-10, 14:02

Either that or companies and schools will no longer be allowed to block websites.

Neither, the bolded part just means carriers like Verizon, AT&T, and Virgin couldn't punish you for going to certain websites.

Employers and schools would not be affected.

Cochrane

06-05-10, 14:24

To be more precise, the various ISPs have threatened to charge companies like Google and so on for using their networks. Of course, Google is already paying for internet access, so this would be an additional charge. While Google might be able to pay that (although they wouldn’t like it), this might easily become a problem for a lot of smaller and newer businesses.

It might also be used to treat some traffic better than other. The harmless idea is that voice data, for telephony, has a higher priority than downloading a software update, because it is more important that the voice transmission arrives in time. The negative side is that for example Peer-to-Peer traffic might get punished.

This new initiative is about forbidding these things. There are some arguing that preferred treatment for VOIP (Voice over IP) is actually a good thing and should be allowed, but the general consensus is that it is more important to forbid the first issue.

lunavixen

06-05-10, 14:34

i sincerely doubt it would work

Draco

06-05-10, 15:19

i sincerely doubt it would work

Which part?

TRhalloween

06-05-10, 15:45

This is very good boring news :tmb:

Chocola teapot

06-05-10, 15:48

Yay.

interstellardave

06-05-10, 16:21

We need faster internet... from what I hear we lag behind many countries in that department.